This research program supports and encourages research in three separate but closely related and often integrated areas:

• language development and psycholinguistics, from infancy through early adulthood;
• bilingualism and/or second language acquisition; and
• reading in bilingual and/or English-language learning children and youth.

The program also supports training in the study of these areas, with an emphasis on the integration and application of theoretical and conceptual principles derived from psycho- and sociolinguistics, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, developmental neuroscience, reading education, and quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. This program will support studies, within a developmental context, that identify and explicate the cognitive, linguistic, social, cultural, socioenvironmental, geographic, environmental, instructional, and neurobiological factors related to language, bilingualism, and biliteracy. The program, by virtue of its focus on bilingualism and ELL language and literacy, has a special interest in minority and language-minority populations, as well as in speakers of dialects of English in the United States that have implications for learning and reading.

Language Development. The program supports research on all aspects normative language development, including phonological, semantic, syntactic, communicative, and metalinguistic development. In addition, investigations of the perception and production of both spoken and gestural language, sociocultural factors, cognitive aspects (such as the relation between language and thought), and the measurement/assessment of language abilities are encouraged. Emergent and early literacy is a special interest of this program, including studies of the relation of oral language development to the emergence of early literacy activities. Studies proposed may employ longitudinal or cross-section designs, and experimental, qualitative, or descriptive methods; combinations of methods are especially encouraged.

Bilingualism. The program supports studies of the factors that characterize, promote, or impede the acquisition of languages in addition to the first or native language. The program encourages studies that address barriers to second language acquisition, and that identify optimal timing and methods for the introduction of additional languages for children, as well as the interaction of bilingualism with language disorders. Studies are also sought that examine the cognitive aspects of bilingualism and implications for first language maintenance or loss. Research on the neurobiological underpinnings of language and bilingualism is also encouraged.

Biliteracy. The research program supports and encourages both research that builds upon data derived from the recent and current work on reading more generally, and new research that addresses bilingual reading development. This portfolio includes studies of factors that promote or impede the acquisition of English-language reading and writing abilities among children for whom English is a second language. Work on measurement/ assessment of reading and related areas in bilingual and ELL individuals is encouraged. A major goal of the program is to obtain converging scientific evidence that ultimately can inform the development and application of assessment and instructional approaches and strategies to develop robust literacy skills. Such strategies and approaches will also help to prevent or remediate reading and writing difficulties and disabilities among children whose first language is not English, and among bilingual or multilingual children.